The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-01-26
PROSPECTS BnIGurENiNG.
One Writer Who Thinks that There's "a
Good Time Coming for tho south.
(trom the sonlh-rn Cul,iya,orl


Good Time Coming for the south.
(Fronl The souDh,r TN Cul,ya:or)
1t is well known to the Cultivate,
readers that the farmers howl and com.
plain Of cotton being only worth from
seven and II half to eight and seven.
eighth cents; they consider themselves
broke and ruined at those prices, when
1t is blessing to them and to the conn
try that 1T is no higher priced. Fifty
odd years gives one some experience
about farming and the vicissitudcs that
attend it, In my long experience |
never saw Tic time when cotton sold
higher for series of years, but it ended
badly for the farmers, us il encouraged
them to increase the area Of cotton
planting and curt;il the AREA Of their
provision crops and lead them into
SpcculatlonS and all manner of cxtr.ya-
ganccS and waste, and when ovcr-pro-
du2tlon gluttCd the market and cotton
fell Ill price, it found the farmers in
debt, which had to be paid by low.priccd
cotton. On the contrary, when cotton
SOld low !ora series Of years, the farm
crs regulated their affairs to suit circum.
stances; ii forced them to become more
sclf-sustininS, hence they increased
thcr provision crops, lived more ut
nome, raised their own meat and bread
kept out of spcculations, economical in
every department, hence they saved
more money ut low-priccd cotton than
they did with high-priccd cotton. have
always noticed that debts and accounts
were moro promptly paid with low
priced cotton-why? because when cot
ton was high, speculation and cXtrava-
Sancc Increased their Indebtedness, and
when low-priccd were economical and
saving, an' every dollar they got they
applied to their debts. This may seem
n strange theory, that low priced cotton
benefits the farmers moro than high
priced cotton, but experience has shown
1t to be the case, and the reasons are ap-
parent; when speculation sets in value
becomes fictitious, and imitation goes ON
until the bubble cNplodCS and reaction
throws all i'll chaos and dismay and II
panic IS the result, which brings about
general loss and ruin, and riches based
on such fictitious and fraudulent values
melt into poverty. Let us go back fifty
years, when everything was much dcarcr
than 1t is now--'cotlcc , pounds to the
dollar, sugar five and six pounds to the
dollar, iron ten cents II pound, axes two
dollars and half each, four-uuarter
sheeting thirty seven and half cents,
and callcocs, American, thirty seven and
half cents, English fifty cents per yard,
and cotton selling at eight and ten cents.
Gong back only TO 1870 our factories
sold plalds ut nineteen cents per yard
Last year, 1856, they sold TIC same plaid
Tor SIX and onc-fourth cents, and the
present boom, six and fourth
cents, and with cotton mt present prices
the advantages arc all III iavor of the
consumers. But let the price OF cotton
advance to twelve and fifteen cents,
everything else would run mp higher in
price to tho proportion to the price OF
cotton, and provision crops curtailcd III
planting and cotton planting increased
at the expectation of fifteen cents Il
pound, would place the farmers in Il
wor" condition than they arc to-day.
Low values are in favor of the farmers,
provided they farmcd as they should, by
raising their own food supplies in
abundance for man and beast, and cot
ton ut SIX cents would pay thm well.
r"r "hc!2 &y&t,. Vi idTniNg is wrong,
hence there is such depression and hard
times with the farmers, and the error is
III planting two much cotton and two
iiItic prov iSlollS WlJIl most OIL inc farmers
to-day; their cotton crops are merely cx-
changed for their food supplica, ana m-
der such system where can any profit
come Ill for the farmer? Why none, for
all he makes is consumed in provisions
to support life; all made above farm
consumption should bo clcar profit,
and If We farmcd III that way, the low
price OF cotton would not affect us, and
II high-priccd, the greater the profits.
Keep an eye to your cribs and barns and
smokc-houscs, that they are filled from
your own fields; also keep AL eye to
your little truck patches, and to your
garden and poultry house, and also to
your dairy, and when that is done, you
will never hear Of hard times OH It farm
thus managed; the hard times and GIN
houses go together; all cotton and no
bread and meat is the trouble; clothing
OF all kinds is cheap, but when you
strike the groccrs and provision dealers,
there the ruinous cXpcns " come in
which make farming Improbable.
JNo. II. DENT.
Cave Spring, Ga.